The dance world buzzed with disbelief this fall when Russian ballerina Anastasia Volochkova was fired by the Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow for being "too fat."

Had the 109-pound star stayed with her home company, the Kirov Ballet of St. Petersburg, the scandal would not have happened - at least not in public.

"I am not so happy in what is happening between our former ballerina and the Bolshoi," said Makhar Vaziev, director of the Kirov, the famed ballet company that performs this week at the State Theatre in Playhouse Square in Cleveland.

The Kirov Ballet of St. Peters burg, Russia, ranks as one of the greatest classical ballet companies in the world. But it is not immune to injuries, ill ness or other unforeseen cir cumstances that necessitate cast changes.

When the Kirov's long- awaited return to Cleveland was announced last winter, publicity photos featured brilliant principal dancers Svetlana Zakharova and Faroukh Ruzimatov in the leading roles of Petipa's "La Bayadere." However, neither star appeared last week at the State Theatre in Playhouse Square.

I believe this is an issue with this company. Back in September, when the Kirov started their first stop of this tour in Las Vegas, we flew all the way from Chicago over to the Vegas. We were very upset about the cast problem after the show. The Kirov announced Diana Vishneva would perform, on both the TV commercial in Aladdin Casino and the big screen TV on the Strip in front of Aladdin. But she never showed up during the show. No explainationa was given.

We originally planned to see their November show in Cleaveland, but we cancelled the trip when we came back from Las Vegas as we didn't like the way how Kirov "packaged" themselves. I'm glad we made that decision.

Kirov is a great Ballet company. We love the dancers and enjoyed the great performance they have presented to the world. But we are totally uncomfortable with how their marketing and management staffs have done in this 2003 tour. You should always be honest to your audience.

The packaging is indeed worrisome. I think any true fan of the company should be concerned. However, some of it can be attributed to cultural differences as well... Those of you with Russian friends can get them to fill you in. But as a counterexample, US-based companies tend to be emotional about their casting sheets -- they make sure the dancers names are correct and any small change due to a last-minute injury can cause a major ulcer!

Cast changes and information about them is a problem with the Kirov. When the Company was in London earlier this year, they were in one place for three weeks, unlike the US tour. After some discussion, the UK organisers of the tour agreed to e-mail the cast lists to us and a couple of others at the same time they were sent to the printers. Thus fans looking in at CriticalDance at least knew the casting a couple of days beforehand.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum